Why Bollywood Shouldn’t Go Global

Each and every national cinema seem to have a dream of going on the international market. Filmmakers all over the world would like to earn as much as Hollywood directors. And it is kind of national pride when a national film is distributed worldwide. We are living in the digital era with social media giving us the possibility to discuss films with people from other countries. Even online daters hunting for theRussian brides find movies to be the best conversational topic. So, can Bollywood movies go global to earn billions of dollars and be discussed by viewers from all over the world? Yes, but it shouldn’t, and let’s check out why, but before that let’s find out why it hasn’t gone global already.

Reflecting Realities

The very first thing that prevents any national cinema to go global is the realities that it reflects. The very first thing to ask about Bollywood is whether it reflects the realities of India and how successful it is in it. To a certain extent, Bollywood does reflect the realities of our life, but it takes a fantasy approach which is not that trustworthy. Bollywood has developed its own tradition of portraying things, and that tradition doesn’t seem to change anytime soon.

Typical Consumers

Typical consumers are the second reason that prevents national movies to attain international success. The director may wish to be rather inventive and make the movie on par with Hollywood or French films, but the producers won’t let him do it, as the movie is at risk of not finding the consumers in the national market. Making atypical film means that you won’t be able to sell it to typical viewers, thus your movie is most likely to fail at the box office.

How Bollywood Can Go Global?

At first, Bollywood needs to learn to reflect the realities of different people in India. We are not saying that it doesn’t try, Bollywood is indeed improving, but the realistic approach is necessary here. Moreover, Bollywood movies need to reflect realities that are understandable not only in India but around the world. Secondly, Bollywood needs to find a compromise in order to appeal to national and international viewers. That’s the way Hollywood movie starts dominating the global market, by appealing to international viewers.

The Result – The Death of Bollywood

If Bollywood would follow the same path as Hollywood on its way to global success, it would be nothing more, but a national cinema suicide. Trying to appeal to wider public Hollywood started lobotomizing its own movies, resulting in mindless films which can be truly interesting only to five-year-olds. It took filmmakers almost two decades to realize that the US needs their national cinema back. If Bollywood would take this path, it would rip itself off of any uniqueness. In the end, it would lose the national viewers, and movies from other countries would start flocking the national market. Trying to go back would be an even more hard thing to do. So, maybe certain things should be left just as they are?